Panamints and Salt

A small open pool of still water reflects the snowy ridge of the Panamint Mountains. Sunrise has not yet directly lighted the salt formations of Devil's Golf Course, and they take on the blue cast of the morning sky.

This photograph has occasionally been criticized for it's primary horizontal line in the middle of the frame. If you have spent much time in Death Valley, you might guess that those critiques come from people who have not explored the area, and you would generally be correct. I used the line to emphasise the difference between the flat world of salt and oppressive heat and the contoured world of hills and snowy peaks. "But there are really two photographs here." Yes, and they are together; that's the point. The line divides, and the reflection connects. I admit, however, that without bringing the experience of 'being there' to the photograph, the significance might be justifiably overlooked.

All is silent on this cold morning, as the evaporative process continues. Soon, the salt formations will be brittle, tainted with brown dust, and devoid of pools. This striking contrast of color and substance will then be gone for perhaps another fifty years.